What is "christian name"

Name \Name\ (n[=a]m), n. [AS. nama; akin to D. naam, OS. & OHG. namo, G. name, Icel. nafn, for namn, Dan. navn, Sw. namn, Goth. nam[=o], L. nomen (perh. influenced by noscere, gnoscere, to learn to know), Gr. 'o`mona, Scr. n[=a]man. [root]267. Cf. Anonymous, Ignominy, Misnomer, Nominal, Noun.]

1. The title by which any person or thing is known or designated; a distinctive specific appellation, whether of an individual or a class.

   Whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
   --Gen. ii. 19.

   What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet.
   --Shak.

2. A descriptive or qualifying appellation given to a person or thing, on account of a character or acts.

   His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
   --Is. ix. 6.

3. Reputed character; reputation, good or bad; estimation; fame; especially, illustrious character or fame; honorable estimation; distinction.

   What men of name resort to him?
   --Shak.

   Far above . . . every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.
   --Eph. i. 21.

   I will get me a name and honor in the kingdom.
   --1 Macc. iii. 1

4. He hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin.
   --Deut. xxii. 19.

   The king's army . . . had left no good name behind.
   --Clarendon.

   4. Those of a certain name; a race; a family.

   The ministers of the republic, mortal enemies of his name, came every day to pay their feigned civilities.
   --Motley.

5. A person, an individual. [Poetic] They list with women each degenerate name. --Dryden. Christian name.

   1. The name a person receives at baptism, as distinguished from surname; baptismal name; in western countries, it is also called a first name.

   2. A given name, whether received at baptism or not. Given name. See under Given. In name, in profession, or by title only; not in reality; as, a friend in name. In the name of.

      1. In behalf of; by the authority of. `` I charge you in the duke's name to obey me.''
         --Shak.

      2. In the represented or assumed character of. ``I'll to him again in name of Brook.''
         --Shak.

         Name plate, a plate as of metal, glass, etc., having a name upon it, as a sign; a doorplate.

         Pen name, a name assumed by an author; a pseudonym or nom de plume.
         --Bayard Taylor.

         Proper name (Gram.), a name applied to a particular person, place, or thing.

         To call names, to apply opprobrious epithets to; to call by reproachful appellations.

         To take a name in vain, to use a name lightly or profanely; to use a name in making flippant or dishonest oaths.
         --Ex. xx. 7.

         Syn: Appellation; title; designation; cognomen; denomination; epithet.

         Usage: Name, Appellation, Title, Denomination. Name is generic, denoting that combination of sounds or letters by which a person or thing is known and distinguished. Appellation, although sometimes put for name simply, denotes, more properly, a descriptive term (called also agnomen or cognomen), used by way of marking some individual peculiarity or characteristic; as, Charles the Bold, Philip the Stammerer. A title is a term employed to point out one's rank, office, etc.; as, the Duke of Bedford, Paul the Apostle, etc. Denomination is to particular bodies what appellation is to individuals; thus, the church of Christ is divided into different denominations, as Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, etc.

Christian \Chris"tian\, a. 1. Pertaining to Christ or his religion; as, Christian people.

3. Pertaining to the church; ecclesiastical; as, a Christian court.
--Blackstone.

4. Characteristic of Christian people; civilized; kind; kindly; gentle; beneficent.

The graceful tact; the Christian art.
--Tennyson.

Christian Commission. See under Commission.

Christian court. Same as Ecclesiastical court.

Christian Endeavor, Young People's Society of. In various Protestant churches, a society of young people organized in each individual church to do Christian work; also, the whole body of such organizations, which are united in a corporation called the United Society of Christian Endeavor, organized in 1885. The parent society was founded in 1881 at Portland, Maine, by Rev. Francis E. Clark, a Congregational minister. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Christian era, the present era, commencing with the birth of Christ. It is supposed that owing to an error of a monk (Dionysius Exiguus, d. about 556) employed to calculate the era, its commencement was fixed three or four years too late, so that 1890 should be 1893 or 1894.

Christian name, the name given in baptism, as distinct from the family name, or surname.

Traditionally, a christian name or baptismal name is a personal name given on the occasion of Christian baptism, with the ubiquity of infant baptism in medieval Christendom. In Elizabethan England, as suggested by Camden, the term christian name was not necessarily related to baptism, used merely in the sense of "given name":

In more modern times, the terms have been used interchangeably with given name, first name and forename in traditionally Christian countries, and are still common in day-to-day use, although today, the secular term 'first name' is considerably the most common. But the "Christian name" is not merely the forename distinctive of the individual member of a family, but the name given to the person (generally a child) at his or her christening or baptism. In pre- Reformation England, the laity was taught to administer baptism in case of necessity with the words: "I christen thee in the name of the Father" etc. To "christen" in this context is therefore to "baptise", and "Christian name" means "baptismal name".